Hyunmoo-3 bears no resemblance to the previous Hyunmoo SSM, which were improved versions of Nike Hercules surface-to-air missiles that were converted into short-range high-speed surface-to-surface ballistic missiles in response to North Korea's Scud-B and Nodong-1 missile threats. Instead, the new missile's designs are strikingly similar to the United States Tomahawk cruise missile.

Hyunmoo-3A, which was nicknamed "Eagle-1" (독수리-1) during the testing, has a range of 500 km, while Hyunmoo-3B, nicknamed "Eagle-2" (독수리-2), has a range of 1,000 km. Hyunmoo-3C, or "Eagle-3" (독수리-3), will be capable of striking its target up to 1,500 km away. This is a significant improvement from Hyunmoo I which had a range of 180 km and Hyunmoo-2, which only has a range of 300 km, both of which were ballistic and not cruise missiles.

South Korea is barred from producing a non-indigenous ballistic missile that is above a certain payload and range limit in accordance to Missile Technology Control Regime. Therefore, a heavy emphasis was put on for developing long-range cruise missiles by the South Korean government, as there is no restriction of payload amount and range limit set for them. With the introduction of Hyunmoo-III, which also has some advanced systems sometimes found on ICBMs, the Republic of Korea Army created the Missile Command in order to efficiently manage these missiles.